13 held for fraud on the pretext of currency trading

Gurugram: Police on Wednesday arrested 13 suspects, including two foreign nationals, from a call centre in Udyog Vihar for allegedly duping at least 100 persons of crores of rupees through fake trading websites

Gurugram: Police on Wednesday arrested 13 suspects, including two foreign nationals, from a call centre in Udyog Vihar for allegedly duping at least 100 persons of crores of rupees through fake trading websites.

13 held for fraud on the pretext of currency trading

The fraud came to light after police received a complaint from a 54-year-old Mumbai-based caterer who often visits Gurugram. He alleged that he was duped by a gang operating from Gurugram, said police.

Sajan Iype, the victim, alleged that on May 12 last year, he saw an advertisement on a social media website, inviting investors for trading in cryptocurrencies and the stock market. “I was keen on investing and clicked on a link and provided my contact details. After some time, I received a call from one of the “employees” of the company, who asked me to share my details on their company website lexatrade.com for online trading,” he said.

The victim was told that there were two steps for the activation of his account for online trading for which he needs to deposit ₹250 to update his (know your customer) KYC details. He was told that an expert from the firm will call him for further assistance, said police.

Priyanshu Diwan, assistant commissioner of police (cyber), said one of the suspects, identified as Rayan Mathew, called the victim and offered help to open his trading account. “He asked the victim to invest a minimum of ₹10,000 to become a VIP client and the company will return the same amount as bonus. Believing in him, he invested an amount of ₹39,000 on May 17,” the ACP said.

ACP Diwan said the victim had invested ₹1.30 crore since May last year. “When the victim asked for the returns, the suspects told him to pay additional money for taxes to be paid to banks in London. When he became suspicious and said he wouldn’t pay any more money, they threatened him,” he said.

The victim said that last week he was on a call with one of the suspects when he overheard the address of the company and came to know it was in Gurugram. “One of the suspects was giving the address to an online food delivery partner when I noted the details and approached police,” he said.

Jasvir Singh Punia, station house officer (SHO) of Cyber police station, said they formed a team and arrested 13 persons who were found making the calls. “The kingpin of the gang, who is based in Israel, has been identified. Two of the suspects who used to work with him in Riga in Latvia, were sent to India as they found it to be a lucrative market,” he said.

SHO Punia said the employees of the call centre were paid ₹50,000 per month.

Modus Operandi

SHO Punia said the employees were trained by the foreign nationals and the backend work was done from Israel. “The call centre employees used to lure the victims by promising high returns in trading websites such as Lexa Trade and Grow Line. They used to make virtual accounts of the victims on these websites,” he said.

Police said initially the suspects returned some sum of the amount and later asked them to invest bigger amounts for higher returns. Later, they would stop all communication.

A case under sections 419, 420, 465 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act was registered at the Cyber police station on Wednesday, said police.

The suspects were identified as Konstantins Filipous of Latvia and Albert Saribekyan alias Peter of Uzbekistan and 11 others, police added.